The young quarterback took the football world by storm after taking over as the San Francisco 49ers’ starting quarterback in Week 13 last season. Garoppolo led the Niners to five straight wins to close the season and has the team poised for a strong campaign in 2018.

In bringing San Francisco back to relevance, Garoppolo proved to be a major difference-maker in the team’s offseason. Days after signing a free-agent contract with the 49ers, Richard Sherman explained the impact Jimmy G had on his choice to take his talents to the Bay Area.

“That had a huge part in it,” Sherman told the San Jose Mercury News’ Daniel Brown. “The way he played down the stretch was inspiring and incredible. He was poised. Quarterbacks can get hot over a limited amount of time. And then the next year they kind of fall off the face of the earth and you never hear from them again. What I saw from him was poise. I saw leadership. I saw the respect of his teammates. I saw a command of the offense. And yet he’d only been there a few weeks.”

That’s certainly high praise from Sherman, who has been a nightmare for the league’s best quarterbacks over the course of his seven-year career. Now, he can be a mentor for Jimmy G as the two square off in practice every day.